1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an Insulation Displacement Connection (IDC) Connector, and particularly to such connector having improved connection structure between a cover and a body of the IDC connector and between the IDC connector and a complementary header connector mounted on a printed circuit board.
2. Description of Related Art
To connect a flat cable to a printed circuit board (PCB), an IDC connector is usually used to terminate the flat cable. A header connector is mounted on the PCB. Then, the IDC connector mates with the header connector so that the flat cable is electrically connected with the PCB.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,893,773 disclosed an IDC connector which has protuberances on sidewalls of a body of the connector so that a cover of the connector can be positioned at an initial position before being pushed to a final position. At the initial position, a flat cable is movable on a terminating face of the body of the connector. At the final position, the cable is compressed between the cover and the body and pierced by terminals of the connector so that conductors in the cable electrically engage with the terminals.
For such a conventional IDC connector, the position of the cover on the body at the initial position is not ensured, since the cover may separate upwardly from the body during transportation of the connector. Furthermore, there is no structure on the body of the IDC connector which can securely fasten the connector to a header connector mounted on a PCB so that a reliable electrical connection between the flat cable and the PCB cannot be always ensured.
Therefore, it is necessary to provide an improved IDC connector which can overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an IDC connector in which a cover of the connector can be reliably located at an initial position so that the cover will not separate from the body during transportation of the connector before the connector is motivated to terminate a flat cable therein.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an IDC connector in which a body thereof has hook structure for engaging with a header connector mounted on a PCB, whereby the IDC connector and the header connector can be securely connected together so that a flat cable terminated by the IDC connector can have a reliable electrical connection with the PCB.
To achieve the above objects, an IDC connector in accordance with the present invention comprises a cover and a body. The cover has formed at each of two opposite ends thereof an outer U-shaped locker and an inner latch between two vertical beams of the U-shaped locker. The body has formed at each of its two opposite ends a tower, and has an upper terminating face and a lower mating face. A plurality of terminals is secured in the body and each has a terminating section located above the terminating face. The tower defines a passage therein, projections protruding laterally outwardly, and steps located below the projections and beside the passage. The body further has a hook integrally extending downwardly from the tower. The hook is deflectable and has a lower catch. The cover is assembled to the body at two positions, i.e., an initial position and a final position. At the initial position, the outer lockers engage with the projections, the inner latches abut against slated faces formed by the towers and a scalloped bottom face of the cover is spaced from the terminating face a distance so that the flat cable is movable along the terminating face. The cover is pushed towards the body from the initial position to reach the final position in which inner latches engage with the steps and the scalloped bottom face of the cover depresses the flat cable against the terminating face so that termination sections of the terminal pierce through the flat cable and clamp conductors of the flat cable, respectively. The IDC connector mates with a header connector mounted on a printed circuit board. The catches of the hooks of the body of the IDC connector engage with crossbars formed on lateral sides of the header connector to thereby lock the IDC connector and the header connector together. An excessively inward deflection of the hooks is prevented by an engagement between the hooks and lateral side faces of the body. An excessively outward deflection of the hooks is prevented by an engagement between the hooks and the inner latches when the cover is assembled to the body at the final position.